Thursday 19 November | Directors Neve Adams and Ewan Little | with Citz Youth Theatre

Everybody’s Story Belongs Here brings together site-specific devising, ensemble scene work, and an introduction to verbatim technique to acknowledge and celebrate the impact theatre spaces have on young people and the communities that surround them.

Working at the Citizens Theatre, we began with the question “what stories live in this place, and who gets to tell them?”, asking the young people to act as story-collectors, collaborating on the final piece and bringing their lived experiences of what makes attending sessions there so special.

The show encourages participants to see their own communities and memories as creative landscapes, while also building confidence in interviewing, devising, and performing. We want the group to discover that theatre can emerge from the everyday – from the pavements, walls, and stories that hold their communities together.

What is the Young Directors’ Programme?

So often youth theatre projects are designed around a performance outcome but with limited time and resource to realise ambitions. There is rarely time for artists to explore or take risks with our creative ideas. Our Next Generation Young Directors’ Programme started in June 2026, building on the success of the Next Generation project, and was designed in consultation with some of our graduates who were keen to step into the role of director.  

Funded by the Amazon Regional Creatives Fund and D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, this pilot programme provides bursaries for three new youth theatre projects to design, explore, and scratch a new piece of work with a group of young people.  

Each director has taken part in training days, had the opportunity to see 12 youth theatre shows at Lyra’s Bright and Wild, at The Citz’ Assemble Festival, and at YTAS’ National Festival of Youth Theatre, as well as professional productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival. They each had the opportunity to run R&D workshops with young people at the National Festival of Youth Theatre at Eden Court this summer, and with the teen groups at Lyra in Edinburgh last month.  

What is the Young Directors’ Programme?

If you want to learn more about the Young Directors’ programme, the scratch performances, or want to connect with YTAS for the 2027 project, please get in touch with emma@ytas.org.uk.